Description
Classic Danish Butter Cookies that melt in your mouth with a crisp, buttery texture. These cookies are piped into charming shapes and lightly golden baked to perfection, making them perfect for festive occasions or a delightful treat any time.
Ingredients
Scale
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 g) European salted butter, room temperature
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons (10 g) vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) whole milk, plus more to soften as needed
Dry Ingredients
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (220 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (50 g) cake flour
For Decorating
- Coarse sugar for decorating (optional)
Instructions
- Prep the Refrigerator and Baking Mats: Clear space in your refrigerator for a baking sheet and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. This ensures you can chill the shaped cookies immediately, preventing them from spreading too much during baking.
- Cream Butter, Sugar, and Salt: In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the room temperature butter on medium speed until smooth. Slowly add granulated sugar and salt while mixing on low, then increase to medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add Egg Yolks, Vanilla, and Milk: With the mixer running on medium speed, slowly add egg yolks, vanilla extract, and milk. Mix until well combined, scraping the bowl sides to ensure even mixing.
- Incorporate Dry Ingredients: Whisk together the all-purpose flour and cake flour in a separate bowl. Add to the mixer in two batches, mixing on low speed just until the flour disappears and dough is smooth. Add an extra tablespoon of milk if the dough is too thick to pipe.
- Pipe the Cookies: Transfer dough to a large piping bag fitted with a ½-inch open star tip. Pipe 2-inch shapes (rosettes, pretzels, circles, squares) spaced at least 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with coarse sugar or festive sprinkles if desired.
- Chill the Cookies: Refrigerate the piped cookies for 20-30 minutes to prevent spreading during baking.
- Preheat the Oven: Set oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Bake: Bake cookies for 10-15 minutes until the edges are just lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
Notes
- Use room temperature butter for easy mixing; it should be around 67°F (19°C) and soft enough to leave an indentation.
- Room temperature eggs ensure even baking; warm cold eggs in slightly warm water for 5 minutes if needed.
- Don’t overmix the dough to avoid tough cookies caused by gluten development.
- Keep an eye on baking times; these can vary depending on cookie size and shape.
- The combination of all-purpose and cake flour provides a crisp yet melt-in-your-mouth texture, but you can substitute with 260 grams of all-purpose flour alone if preferred.
- Measure flour accurately, ideally with a kitchen scale, to prevent excess flour which can toughen cookies.
- If using unsalted butter, add ¼ teaspoon kosher salt to the dough.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
- You can chill shaped cookies up to 2 days before baking; cover if chilling longer than 30 minutes.
- Unbaked shaped dough can be frozen for 2-3 months; bake from frozen adding a couple extra minutes to the baking time.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 110
- Sugar: 6g
- Sodium: 60mg
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 4.5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 11g
- Fiber: 0.3g
- Protein: 1.2g
- Cholesterol: 30mg
